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Are foreign countries now apprehensive over the safety of Philippine air carriers in the light of another failed review by the Federal Aviation Authority (FAA) on the country’s adherence to international aviation safety standards?

This is the question now worrying many industry stakeholders after the Autoridade de Aviacao Civil, the civil aviation authority of the Macau SAR (Special Administrative Region), demanded from the Civil Aviation Authority of the Philippines (CAAP) “information on safety oversight inspection of (Philippine) air operators,” specifically Philippine Airlines (PAL) and Cebu Pacific Air.

The request by Chan Weng Hong, president of the Macau civil aviation authority, to CAAP director general Ramon S. Gutierrez, dated February 29, came more than a month after the Federal Aviation Authority (FAA) of the United States reported that the Philippines has again failed to address at least 23 specific “safety concerns” and eight “critical elements” in relation to international aviation safety standards being strictly adhered to by civil aviation authorities all over the world.

Since the country has been downgraded to “Category 2” by the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO) in 2007 due to safety issues, it has consistently failed in its efforts to remove the tag that has resulted in the banning of all Philippine-based air carriers from entering Europe and the United States since 2009.

“I am writing to request your provision of the records and results of safety oversight inspections of the Philippine Airlines and Cebu Pacific Air for the previous year (2011),” reads the letter of Hong to Gutierrez.

“As (PAL and Cebu Pacific) operate scheduled flights to and from Macau, your report of recent inspections and (safety) findings in the last 6 months can assist our authority to evaluate the operating standards of the above operators,” Hong said.

Hong further noted that the request is in compliance with Macau’s own “safety assessment of foreign aircraft” (SAFA) that it uses for surveillance of operations in the Macau special administrative region by any foreign carrier.

He said the information is necessary so that civil aviation authorities in Macau can “take appropriate action when necessary to preserve safety.”

CLARK FREEPORT ZONE, Pampanga - With the promise of revolutionizing
air travel for Filipinos, AirAsia Philippines, the newest entrant in the
Philippine aviation market, finally took to the skies on Wednesday,
March 28.

With no less than AirAsia Group CEO Tony Fernandes leading the
send-off party, the first AirAsia Philippines flight took off from
Clark's Diosdado Macapagal International Airport (DMIA) for Kalibo at 7
am.

This was followed by the first-ever flight from Clark to Davao, which
departed at a little past 10 am and carried members of the press and
government officials, led by Davao City Mayor Sara Duterte and Clark
International Airport Corp. chief Victor Jose Luciano.

READY
TO FLY. AirAsia Philippines Flight PQ7001, bound for Kalibo, at the
tarmac of the Diosdado Macapagal International Airport, minutes before
its inaugural flight, March 28, 2012. Photo by KD Suarez

"Weare here to revolutionize domestic and international air travel… our
brand of air travel will be characterized by transparency, efficiency
and high value service," said AirAsia CEO Marianne Hontiveros.

"Philippines' Air Asia maiden flights… will make air travel for
Northern and Central Luzon passengers more convenient and comfortable.
They can even be spared from the traffic of EDSA and the long queues of
[Ninoy Aquino International Airport]," she said.

The new airline, the 6th carrier currently flying as a local carrier,
promises it will be different from other low-cost-carriers in terms of
service and travel experience.

Hontiveros cited as example how AirAsia Philippines is the only
domestic carrier that offers the all-in-fare promo concept. She candidly
said that -- unlike current promo fares of other airlines that only
involve a few seats on a flight and tend to surprise ticket buyers with
additional fees and surcharges -- AirAsia Philippines will only quote
the total ticket cost "all the time."

Recently, AirAsia tried to beat Cebu Pacific's previously famous "Piso fares" (P1) by offering "zero-fares."
After passengers complained that the total fare actually includes
add-on fees, Hontiveros said they have made it a policy to quote only
the all-in-fare from P275, which covers fuel surcharge, processing fee
and government mandated fees such as aviation security fee and VAT.

Long wait

AirAsia Philippines is a 60-40 joint venture between a group of
Filipino businessmen - Tonyboy Cojuangco, Michael Romero, and Hontiveros
- and AirAsia International Ltd., led by Fernandes.
Fernandes met with President Aquino, the cousin of Cojuangco, a few
months after the 2010 elections. Fernandes said he was taken by
President Aquino's sincerity and goal to level the playing field. He was
gung-ho to add Philippines in the growing Asian network of his budget
airline in the region.

On Wednesday, March 28, he said making AirAsia Philippines come true is a testament to their confidence in the country.

"We are here because we are confident of its growth. With our
pioneering flights and with the options we offer, millions of Southeast
Asians will finally be able to easily access the Philippines from
various parts of the ASEAN region," he said.

The venture was announced in December 2010, formally launched last
March 2011, and was supposed to start flying in December 2011.

A brand new Airbus A320 straigth from Airbus's headquarters in France
arrived in Clark in August 2011. However, it stayed mostly on the
ground for almost 6 months due to the long wait for government-issued certificate that allows them to start operating.

The 2nd Airbus A320 arrived not long after, but both just sat unused
in Clark as the airline executives waited for the government permits.

The long wait was largely due to being the first airline in the
Philippines to pass through the new requirements instituted in 2008
after Philippine aviation was downgraded from Category 1 to Category 2
by the United States Federal Aviation Administration.

Nonetheless, Fernandes said he and the AirAsia executives have been patient--and want to be rewarded for it.

Excitement
Fernandes' excitement for the launch was evident in his tweets the day before.

"This airline is going to be big," the Malaysian businessman tweeted on his account, @tonyfernandes.

"Arrived in Philippines. Very cool to see airasia (sic) Philippines
on the fids [Flight Information Display System] screen. Our first
flights tomorrow," he tweeted upon arrival in Clark, the airline's hub,
on Tuesday.

SEND
OFF. AirAsia Group CEO Tony Fernandes waves Philippine flags infront of
an AirAsia Philippines aircraft scheduled to fly to Kalibo, Aklan, at
the tarmac of the Diosdado Macapagal International Airport, March 28,
2012. Photo by KD Suarez.

Fernandes added that the presence of AirAsia in the Philippines is
another proof of their company's belief in ASEAN, saying that the
country is the "last piece" of the regional jigsaw puzzle.

He said the launch now completes the regional network, with the
Philippines being the easternmost and "most important" part, being it
closest to the East Asian market where more than a billion potential
customers live.

The businessman also emphasized that the country is ready to "explode" and present its offerings to the world.

The low-cost carrier, which had an initial investment of P468
million, currently has 2 Airbus A320 aircraft, and will initially
operate flights from Clark to Davao and Kalibo. Flights between Clark
and Puerto Princesa will commence next month, to be followed by other
domestic destinations. Two more aircraft will arrive this year,
according to the airline.

The new airline is the 6th Philippine-based commercial airline at
present, and will be competing head-to-head with Philippine Airlines,
Cebu Pacific Air, AirPhil Express, ZestAir, and SeaAir.
Prior to this, the original, Malaysia-based AirAsia has been flying to and from Clark to Kuala Lumpur.

From www.airasia.com

Connectivity

The new airline touted its connectivity to the AirAsia network, which
includes companies in Malaysia, Indonesia, Thailand, Vietnam, and
Japan, with Fernandes boasting he could travel to 4 countries in one
day.

Transpotation Secretary Roxas, speaking in behalf of President
Benigno Aquino III, said that the launch really is about the start of
interconnectivity among the different islands of the country and to the
rest of Southeast Asia, which will boost trade and tourism.

Also present at the launch were top AirAsia executives from the
Philippines and around the region, and the heads of Clark, Davao, and
Manila airports.

The event also saw the signing of a "sister airport" agreement
between the DMIA and Davao's Francisco Bangoy International Airport.

The agreement aims to promote the use of the two international
gateways as alternative airports to the congested Ninoy Aquino
International Airport (NAIA) in Manila, and to boost the economy and
tourism in the 2 cities. - Rappler.com

For Maintenance Services

In a statement, LTP said it had been hired by IndiGo to conduct
“lease return checks” on seven of its Airbus A320 aircraft. The first of
the planes will arrive at LTP’s Manila hangar in June 2012.

“Our partnership with LTP, one of the leading maintenance, repair and
overhaul providers in Asia, will enable IndiGo to use LTP’s proven
competence, experience and expertise in on-time completion of lease
return checks,” IndiGo said.

LTP is a joint venture between MacroAsia Corp., a sister company of
flag carrier Philippine Airlines, and Germany’s Lufthansa, the world’s
largest aviation conglomerate.

“We are very pleased to welcome India’s fastest growing airlines and
largest low-cost operator to LTP this June,” LTP vice-president for
marketing and sales Dominik Wiener-Silva said.

“We are fully committed in providing our expert support to ensure
timely lease return of IndiGo’s A320 aircraft. We hope that this
agreement is a start of a long-term partnership with one of India’s
leading airlines today,” he said.

Earlier this month, LTP inaugurated its new $30 million hangar
located at the Ninoy Aquino International Airport complex in Pasay.

The new facility is capable of providing maintenance services for
Airbus A380 planes, the biggest passenger planes in the world. The A380,
manufactured by the European Aeronautic Defence and Space Company N.V.
(EADS), can seat as many as 850 passengers.

With a fleet of 50 planes, IndiGo is the second largest budget
airline in India with the second largest share of the subcontinent’s
domestic travel, trailing behind Jet Airways.

IndiGo is also known to have placed one of the largest orders for
planes in commercial aviation history during 2011, when Airbus won the
$15-billion deal with the company for 180 aircraft.

Meanwhile, incoming international passengers went up by 9.5 percent from
7,065,927 to 7,737,327. Fueled by cheap air fares, international passenger traffic flow to the Philippines rose by 9.7 percent in 2011. There were more departures out of the country from OFW traffic when outgoing passengers went up
from 7,217,178 to 7,930,719, equivalent to 9.9 percent growth.

Philippine Airlines (PAL) registered the highest number of international passenger flown with 3,905,728 last year. The airline's incoming passenger traffic stood at 1,928,999, while outgoing passenger traffic reached 1,976,729.

PAL was followed by Cebu Pacific registering 2,462,574 international passengers with incoming passengers at 1,209,000 and outgoing passengers at 1,253,574.

Zamboanga International Airport became the latest victim of the power outages that plagued Mindanao as it shut down airport operation Friday night due to power failure.

CAAP managed to restore power to the
airport's control tower but the power that run its Instrument Landing System (ILS) equipment was fried by intermittent and changing power, report from the the Civil Aviation Authority of the
Philippines (CAAP) said.

“We don't have a working ILS and power for our runway lights are busted, so we have to suspend night operations for safety concerns,” said Zamboanga airport manager Celso Bayabos.

Zamboanga City had been experiencing a three-hour rotational brownouts
for the past weeks due to the shortage of power in Mindanao.

Two regular daily flights from Manila to Zamboanga City are affected by the closing of the airport after sundown. They are flights operated by Airphil Express and Philippine Airlines.

Philippine carrier Mid-Sea Air Express launched its inaugural
Davao-Manado flight on March 18 on a once a week Sunday service. The airline uses a 19-seater Jet
Stream aircraft for the route.

Manado is the capital of the North Sulawesi province of Indonesia.

Indonesia's Consul
General Eko Hartono said Thursday that an Indonesian airline is currently processing papers and accreditation to fly the route soon while another Philippine based airlines is also applying for Davao - Manado route.

Shelley Sondakh, BIMP-EAGA Executive Secretary identified the airline wanting to operate Manado- Davao and vice versa routes as Zest Air and Lion Air subsidiary Wings Air of Indonesia.

"Wings Air will be flying in
May, and Zest Air possibly at the later part of this year," he said.

Lion Air is Indonesia's biggest private airline. It operates 75 aircraft and has existing orders for 348 Boeing 737's valued at US$22 billion. It is by far the biggest single contract for aircraft manufacturer Boeing on the type.

Wings Air has applied for twice a week ATR service, while Mid-Sea Express intends to increase its Jetstream 42 flight frequency to two times a week. There is no details yet for the Zest Air flights.

Low cost carrier Cebu Pacific (CEB) launched its Kalibo-Hong Kong and
re-launch Manila-Xiamen international routes Thursday in line with its commitment to boost
Philippines tourism.

“We are proud to offer these
convenient linkages for Chinese and Hong Kong tourists to the
Philippines, allowing them the fastest access to Boracay” vice
president for marketing and distribution Candice Iyog said.

CEB sent off its maiden Kalibo-Hong flight yesterday at 2:35 p.m. in Kalibo, arriving in Hong Kong at 5:05 p.m.

After
a send-off program in Hong Kong, the maiden return flight will leave
Hong Kong at 5:50 p.m. and arrive in Kalibo at 8:20pm.

The
airline also celebrated its maiden Manila-Xiamen flight with a send-off
program. It left Manila at 11:20 p.m. and arrived in Xiamen at 1:35
p.m. The return flight will leave Xiamen at 2:25 a.m. and arrive in Manila at 4:40 a.m.

Both routes are thrice weekly services.

The airline also flies to Manila daily from Shanghai, thrice weekly from Guangzhou,
and four times weekly from Beijing. CEB also operates six daily flights
from Hong Kong to Cebu, Clark and Manila, as well as daily flights from
Macau to Manila and up to four times weekly flights from Macau to
Clark.

The airline launched its Manila-Hanoi flights last March 17, and will launch its Manila-Siem Reap flights on April 19. It already flies to Manila daily from Shanghai, thrice weekly from Guangzhou,
and four times weekly from Beijing. CEB also operates six daily flights
from Hong Kong to Cebu, Clark and Manila, as well as daily flights from
Macau to Manila and up to four times weekly flights from Macau to
Clark.

Kalibo is the airlines 7th established hub in the Philippines and the 4th gateway out of the country. The other gateways are Manila, Cebu, and Clark.

Seeking for additional
flight entitlements to the Middle East could resolve a complaint filed
by Cebu Pacific against the Philippine Airlines (PAL) before the Civil
Aeronautics Board (CAB).

“We
are having air talks with United Arab Emirates this year so the issue
may be overtaken by this,” said CAB Executive Director Carmelo Arcilla.
He did not say when the negotiations would take place.

Cebu Pacific wants
the government to recall some of Philippine Airlines’ (PAL) flight
entitlements to the Middle East after the flag carrier stopped its
direct flights.

The
Gokongwei-owned Cebu Pacific asked the CAB to recall half of the 14
flight entitlements awarded to PAL to fly to United Arab Emirates (UAE).
Cebu Pacific is also eyeing for PAL’s Saudi Arabia entitlements.

Cebu
Pacific said that since PAL is no longer mounting direct flights in the
Middle East countries, the CAB might as well reallocate these to
airlines in need of entitlements.

But PAL, said its President Jaime Bautista, flies to those destinations via a code-share agreement with foreign airlines.

“We
can fly there if we want. However, we thought at this time that it’s
better to code share with others. I think they [CAB] can’t take it away
because of the code share agreement we have,” the PAL official said when
sought for comment.

PAL flies 14 times a week to Dubai and Abu Dhabi, eight times a week to Bahrain, and seven times a week to Doha, Qatar.

The carrier stopped its direct flights to UAE in 1998. PAL also canceled its Manila-Riyadh route in March 2011.

The
CAB said it would be difficult to comment on Cebu Pacific’s complaint
now, citing a contract inked with PAL and with a foreign airline.

“When
you say that it’s not being used it is complicated because it’s under
code share and a subject matter involving a contract between two private
entities. If it’s really not being used then we can take it away as we
have done before [with] other complaints. But if it’s under code share
then that is another question. It is not that easy when something is a
subject matter of a contract,” commented Arcilla.

Cebu
Pacific announced plans to launch long-haul operations in the third
quarter of 2013. Among the destinations being considered are parts of
Europe, Middle East, Australia and the United States.

The US Federal Aviation Authority (FAA) Report given to Department of Transportation and Communications (DOTC) Secretary Mar Roxas raises more questions than answers to the recently concluded Pre-Assessment Audit on International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO)'s Standards and Recommended Practices (SARP) reviewed by US FAA inspectors on Jan. 23 to 27, 2012.

Sec. Roxas refused to comment when pressed with the issue but confirmed the gaping hole in the aviation transport industry and the incompetence of some regulation officials to address the problem.

Sec Roxas said results of the FAA’s recent technical assessment
showed the Civil Aviation Authority of the Philippines’ (CAAP) failure
to address deficiencies.

The transport Secretary expressed his dismay at CAAP saying that
“The issues raised were basic international aviation standards,”

Roxas added that “Any self-respecting agency should have followed
the standards.” He could also not understand CAAP's reluctance to follow the rules, even if told to.

“Those are the standards. We chose not to
follow them and this is the consequence,” Roxas said.

The report stated that the level of compliance on critical aviation safety issues is left much to be desired. For example, the FAA auditors questioned the practice of CAAP inspectors in taking free rides on airlines while conducting audit, which it said is clearly a conflict of interest.

The qualifications and training of CAAP’s inspectors and other critical technical personnel is also flawed and needs to be revamped, as most of them clearly possess no concrete experience to the required job description. CAAP rehired its employees even if they are not clearly qualified for the job.

According to printed news report, the FAA said that in one check they conducted on the aircraft worthiness audit
capabilities of CAAP personnel, they noted that the inspectors were
issuing rating and limitations on a CAAP-approved aircraft maintenance
organization (AMO), despite having no training on the aircraft
worthiness check.

FAA also laments the lack of system to evaluate the quality of training the agency are getting for their personnel, such as the pilot skill tests and aircraft worthiness checks casting doubt on the qualifications of these inspectors, and the absence of a computerized records keeping system, such as a Civil Aviation Safety Reporting and Tracking System (CASORT) which has time and again been suggested to the government to install since 2009.

The reason why it isn't installed by CAAP baffles the auditors.

“A review of these records revealed record keeping errors that caused
confusion, and a lack of hard copies made the records incomplete,” the
FAA report said.

“The records provided were confusing in that they did not clearly
differentiate between training provided by the CAAP and training
provided by sources prior to employment by CAAP. Without hard-copy
records, the CASORT system data alone would have given the false
impression that inspectors were not qualified,” it said.

The FAA report also found numerous wording errors in the CAAP's version of Philippine Civil Aviation Regulations (PCAR) which needs to be rectified the soonest.

Roxas said that prior to his assumption as DOTC Secretary, the CAAP had
made a promise to President Aquino himself that the country would be
able to regain its category 1 status with the FAA within a year which they subsequently failed.

CAAP Director General Ramon S. Gutierrez said Monday that they are addressing the technical issues seriously. Gutierrez said they would go to Washington in April this year to lobby the US government for a corrective action plan and clarification from the FAA.

Gutierrez laments that while CAAP had addressed the original 88 “significant safety concerns,” the
FAA team added 20 more items for remedial corrections.

"That's why were clarifying some issues with them" says Gutirrez.

Gutierrez said that one of the new issues raised by FAA is not technical but political in nature which can be only solve by the Philippine Congress.

It said that while a Philippine-registered airplanes can operate freely in the US, the US-registered aircraft cannot be allowed to operate in the country.

But Gutierrez is not buying the idea and will challenge the issue raised by FAA in Washington.

Philippine Airlines Philippine-registered planes has been barred from flying in the United States because of category 2 status.

A 37-year-old Norwegian woman and a
Filipino pilot died after their Cessna 172S Skyhawk SP plane (RPC209), crashed seconds before
it landed at the Camiguin airport in Mambajao town around 8:30 a.m. on Sunday. Three other passengers survived the crash.

The fatalities were identified as Christian Cesar Cebracus and Racquel Strande. The others were identified as Indonesian co-pilot Nurmala Dewi, the
woman's husband Lance Strande, and their 3-year-old child Jensola.

The plane owned by Cebu-based charter company Aviatours departed from Mactan
airport at 7:30 a.m bound for Camiguin for sight-seeing tour before it clip a coconut tree on approach to Mambajao airport.

Qatar Airways has call it quits for Cebu after more than eight long years of developing the network.

The airline decided to suspend flights to Cebu starting
April this year due to economic reason. The inaugural Doha-Cebu flight of Qatar Airways started at Mactan Cebu
International Airport on Dec. 11, 2003. The airline served the route
three times weekly. It never grow from there.

In contrast, Manila got the better share of the airline but is prevented from expanding the route due to bilateral restrictions.

"The problem with Cebu I think is domestic connections to other places in Visayas and Mindanao region." says Emam.

"In Manila, you could virtually connect to any places in the Philippines and airlines offered bigger planes such as Airbus 320 to ferry passengers." Emam adds. "In Cebu, you get a commuter plane to the provinces."

But Cebu-based travel agencies has other reasons in mind.

"The Cebu-Qatar route is much more expensive as compared to Manila-Qatar, and sometimes the difference is huge when you consider flying other airlines to the middle east" says a local operator Jenny Franco.

"Perhaps because they operate on monopoly", the operator adds.

However Emam stressed that even if they are alone in Cebu, there is no monopoly for them as plenty of airlines are available in Manila which is an hour away. He stressed that Cebu pricing is actually market based, and since it has fewer passenger to fly they have to pay more.

"It's more or less an economy of scale, if you like" says Emam.

Cebu Chamber of Commerce and Industry (CCCI) recently asked Qatar
Airways to reconsider its decision of withdrawing from Cebu.

“We understand the factors that triggered Qatar Airways to suspend
its flights to our island, but we are in dire need of the services of
your airways”
Chioson said in his letter to the airline.

Hotel and restaurant owners have a different reason.

“I believe it’s a combination of factors that pushed Qatar Airways to that decision: the low cargo revenues, the low yield from
business-class,” said Hotel, Resorts, and Restaurant Association of Cebu
(HRRAC) president Hans Hauri.

In an advisory sent to its partners and clients, Qatar Airways said it will
stop servicing the Cebu-Doha route because of rising fuel cost and high
operating expenses.

The airline said passengers with flights after
March 26 will be provided with alternative flights like the Manila-Doha
route that flies twice-weekly.

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About

Welcome to our blog. The Philippine aviation scene has plenty of surprises in store. We are trying to chronicle the relevant events from orbital satellites to human powered flights and all in between as we possibly could. We are also trying desperately hard to be accurate and factual as far as possible. Humans as we are we do sometimes err. Our apologies for trying to let you know to the best of our knowledge which sometimes fell short. We however value your time reading it and please do contact us for some corrections. Our heartfelt thanks for dropping by.

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